In a Crystal Darkly
by PaperKayak
Summary: Ron takes his Divination exam at the end of the third year, and it wasn't quite as dull as he had originally let on. My first fan fiction ever, so any feedback is appreciated.


"Parvati Patil," came the flowery voice from the trapdoor in the ceiling. Parvati stood up, nodded to the only two students left waiting for the exam before climbing swiftly up the silver ladder. Ron Weasley, one of the two, slid down the wall with a sigh. This waiting was taking an eternity.

Harry Potter sat beside him, his copy of Unfogging the Future open to a random page at which he stared without reading. Ron couldn't blame him. Between everything going on during the past year, all topped off by Buckbeak's scheduled execution tonight, they both had much more urgent matters on their minds than the cockamamie exam upstairs.

"Think you're going to see anything?" Ron asked after a few minutes- anything to pass the time. "In the crystal ball, I mean?"

Harry snorted. "Unless my future involves me becoming an extremely heavy smoker, I don't think I'm going to get much out that thing."

"Do you think Trelawney will notice if I just make something up?"

"Probably not, so long as you make it depressing enough. She seems to devour predictions like those."

Ron laughed. "Well, it'll be more fun than just staring and drooling for ten minutes. I don't suppose that's what's taking Parvati so long?"

"Speak of the devil," Harry muttered as their fellow student bounded down the stairs, beaming brightly.

"She says I've got all the makings of a true Seer!" Parvati exclaimed proudly. "I saw loads of stuff!" She turned to depart down the stairs, tossing a quick "Good luck!" over her shoulder as she went to join her friend Lavender.

"Ronald Weasley," said Trelawney from the room above. Ron made a face, and Harry responded with a nod before returning his expression to the textbook in his lap.

Ron nearly gagged as he pulled himself up through the trapdoor. He had managed to grow accustomed to Professor Trelawney's usual incenses and perfumes, but today it was joined by a stifling heat, produced by a blazing fireplace and held in by the thick, tightly drawn drapes. "Professor," he gasped, "Do you think you could open a window or something?"

Trelawney frowned at him, her eyes narrowing behind her comically large spectacles. "The Inner Eye, if you've managed to develop it at all, should not be hindered by such a trifle as a bit of heat and dark. Come now, sit down." She gestured at the crystal ball which stood on her little table as Ron took his seat. "Now then, gazing into the Orb, and tell me: what do you see within?"

Biting off a grimace, Ron peered into the ball. Nothing. Nothing but thick, swirling fog. Just like every time they had practiced in class. Still, he decided he might as well humor Trelawney a bit; at least that way he stood a chance at a passing grade.

"Have you seen anything yet?" Professor Trelawney asked in a whisper.

"Huh? Uh-" Ron shook his head to clear it. The humidity of the classroom had already begun to stifle him. "Erm, no, nothing yet."

"Well, don't be deterred. Open your Inner Eye, gaze with it."

Ron nodded, trying to force his Inner Eye to open as his outer eye threatened to close from drowsiness. Between the heat and the lack of anything of any interest whatsoever occurring within the foggy confines of the orb, staying awake was becoming a challenge. He propped his head up on his hands and stared into the solid white in the crystal ball.

Except it wasn't solid. Ron's eyes widened as he realized that a silhouette had begun to take form in the middle of the dense cloud. He glanced up at his professor, an unexpected wave of excitement pulsing through him. Perhaps Divination wasn't as much hokum as he had always assumed.

"Do you see something?" Professor Trelawney asked, noticing Ron's sudden change in demeanor.

"Yeah, I do!" Ron replied, still somewhat astonished.

"What is it? What do you see?"

"Erm," Ron said. What was it, exactly? He squinted and tried to make out the dark shape in the fog. It came slightly more into focus, and Ron saw that it was a rather flat circle. Not much to go off of, there. He stared harder, certain that his Inner Eye was out of practice and needed a bit of warming up. Finally, he saw a faint line circling through the fog, meeting itself at the top of the circle.

"It's a necklace!" he exclaimed.

"A necklace?" Trelawney prodded. "Like a chain? Or is there a pendant, or jewels?"

"No, no, it's-" he looked back at the silhouette. "You know those necklaces that you open up, and there's a little picture inside?"

"Do you mean a locket?"

"Yes! A locket!"

"A locket," Trelawney repeated thoughtfully. "Now, a locket usually means either a long-lasting relationship, a loved one. Although, at times it may signify a secret that you must keep safe. Really, it depends what's in the locket. Is it open?"

"No, it's closed."

"Focus, dear," she urged. "See if you can make the locket open."

"Erm, I'll try," Ron said uncertainly. He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again to stare into the orb with as much severity as he could muster. Somehow, it worked. The top half of the locket slowly swung outward, to reveal inside-

"An eye," Ron said, wrinkling his brow.

"An I?" Trelawney asked. "Like the letter?"

Ron shook his head. "A human eyeball."

"Interesting. Now, an eye, if it's open- it is open, correct?" Ron nodded. "Well then, it usually will have something to do with enlightenment and knowledge."

Ron furrowed his brow. "So either I have a long-lasting relationship with enlightenment, which I doubt, or I have some sort of knowledge that I have to keep secret."

"Do you?"

"Not to my knowledge," he joked. Trelawney didn't so much as bat an eye. "Sorry, bad joke," he muttered, turning back to the crystal ball.

"Is the eye doing anything?" the professor prompted. "Blinking, perhaps?"

"Well, it's turning around a bit," Ron said slowly, "but not really any-"

He stopped abruptly. A new silhouette had taken form in the fog. It was long and thick, sharpened to a point at its inferior end. A blade of some sort, perhaps a knife or sword. As Ron watched, the blade rose, and suddenly, forcefully, came down and stabbed its point into the eyeball. The little orb vanished, replaced by a swirling smoke, dark in contrast to the fog around it.

Ron turned and stared at his Professor, who gestured eagerly for him to speak. "There was a knife," he said, "or a sword, or something. It just kind of appeared, and it stabbed the eye. And the eye disappeared, or, er, it transformed into smoke or something."

Professor Trelawney seemed nearly ecstatic. "Oh, wonderful, dear, wonderful! A blade- well, really, depending on what sort of blade it was, it could have meant any number of things. Balance, ambition, boldness, prestige, aggression. Then, with the addition of the eye and a locket... dear me, you certainly present a myriad of possibilities, don't you?

"Strange though," she added, her expression changing rapidly to one of puzzlement. "Usually, while tea leaves and palms reveal messages to the Inner Eye through such symbols, the crystal ball is usually more clear. It tends to show actual events occurring in the future. Curious, that it would approach you so differently. I find it rather difficult to understand under what circumstances you would find yourself stabbing an eyeball in a locket."

"You and me both," Ron agreed, looking back into the crystal ball. The smoke from the eyeball had all but dissipated, and he could make out cracks in the locket's frame. He shivered suddenly, despite the heat. "Er, professor? Am I finished?"

"Yes, yes, of course," Trelawney nodded. "Excellent work, Mr. Weasley. A vast improvement over your classroom performance, certainly."

Ron pushed his chair back and stood up, only then noticing how shaky his body felt. His first successful attempt at Divination had certainly taken its toll on him. Something about that eye in the locket chilled him.

He found his footing on the ladder and descended quickly, sighing in relief as he felt a rush of cool air. "How'd it go?" a voice asked him, and Ron jumped, momentarily forgetting that Harry had still been in the corridor below.

Ron opened his mouth to reply, then hesitated. Harry had plenty on his mind. Besides, that eerie eye in the locket was a total enigma to him; what more meaning could it possibly hold for Harry? Away from the stuffy perfumes and Professor Trelawney's insect-like gaze, the chill he had received from his unexpected vision had begun to fade.

"Rubbish," he finally said. "Couldn't see a thing, so I made some stuff up. Don't think she was convinced, though." He rolled his eyes and shrugged, in a manner that he hoped seemed indifferent.

"Harry Potter," Trelawney's misty voice called from the trapdoor. Harry glanced over at Ron. "Meet you in the common room," he said before climbing up the ladder. Ron nodded in reply, and he numbly began to make his way back to the Gryffindor tower.


End file.
